CaliToday (12/11/2025): Against a backdrop of rising regional tensions, PM Albanese and President Prabowo announce a new security pact, committing the two neighbors to mutual consultation if threatened.
Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto, center, speaks with Australia's Governor-General Sam Mostyn, right, and Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, front right, at Admiralty House in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, Pool)
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – Australia and Indonesia announced Wednesday they have "substantively concluded" negotiations on a new, landmark bilateral defense treaty, a move that signals a significant strategic alignment between the two powerful Indo-Pacific neighbors.
The historic pact was unveiled by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and visiting Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who is in Australia for his first state visit since his inauguration. The agreement is poised to replace their 2006 Lombok Treaty and represents the most significant upgrade to their security relationship in decades.
Prime Minister Albanese told reporters in Sydney that he hoped to travel to Indonesia in January 2026 to officially sign the completed treaty.
“The governments of Australia and Indonesia have just substantively concluded negotiations on a new bilateral treaty on our common security,” Albanese said, standing alongside President Prabowo.
A New Mechanism for Shared Threats
The new agreement moves beyond previous frameworks by establishing a more binding and high-level structure for security cooperation.
Critically, the treaty creates a formal consultation mechanism for when either nation's security is under threat.
“This treaty will commit Australia and Indonesia to consult at a leader and ministerial level on a regular basis on matters of security," Albanese explained.
He added that it would also "identify and undertake mutually beneficial security activities, and if either or both countries’ security is threatened, to consult and consider what measures may be taken either individually or jointly, to deal with those threats.”
While officials were quick to note this is a consultation pact, not a mutual defense alliance (like NATO), it legally obligates the two countries to come to the table at the highest levels during a crisis—a crucial step in a region facing increasing instability.
The Geopolitical Context: "Good Neighbors"
The announcement comes at a time of heightened geopolitical tension. While neither leader mentioned China, the unstated backdrop for the new treaty is the strategic competition reshaping the Indo-Pacific, including disputes in the South China Sea and growing military posturing.
For Australia, locking in a closer, more predictable security relationship with the world's third-largest democracy and the de facto leader of ASEAN is a major diplomatic victory. It solidifies a key partner to its north.
For Indonesia, under the new leadership of President Prabowo, a former general, the pact demonstrates a pragmatic "Good Neighbor" policy. It serves to balance Jakarta’s relationships, strengthening ties with a key U.S. ally while maintaining its long-standing position of "non-alignment."
President Prabowo, in his remarks, framed the agreement in terms of shared destiny and trust.
“We, I think, concluded an important agreement, an important treaty between Australia and Indonesia,” Prabowo said.
“Good neighbors will help each other in times of difficulties. In the Indonesian culture, we have a saying: when we face an emergency, it is our neighbor that will help us.”
This visit and the new treaty mark a significant warming in a relationship that has, at times, been complex and strained over issues like East Timor and asylum-seeker policies. The focus now is clearly on a shared future, with analysts noting the fast-tracked negotiations signal an urgent, mutual desire to stabilize their immediate region.